ASTANA, June 22. /TASS/. Kazakh authorities are ready to renew negotiations on Syria in the Astana format in the republic’s capital as a goodwill gesture in the event of a collective request by the parties involved, according to a commentary by the Kazakh Foreign Ministry.

On Wednesday, Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Kanat Tumysh said that the 20th Astana-format meeting that ended on June 21 would be the last one. According to Russia’s special presidential envoy for the Middle East and African countries, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, the decision to no longer hold meetings on Syria in Astana was made at the initiative of the Kazakh side.

"If the participants of the International Meetings on Syria in the Astana format express a collective request to continue negotiations in Astana, Kazakhstan is ready to consider the possibility of resuming the process as a gesture of goodwill, taking into account the progress of negotiations at other platforms and the situation in Syria in general," the Kazakh Foreign Ministry explained.

The diplomatic agency revealed what affected Kazakhstan’s decision to declare the most recent Astana-format meeting on Syria as the final stage of negotiations on Kazakh soil. "It is known that this format was created as a supplementary negotiating platform to the Geneva process and was intended to solve specific practical tasks to end the conflict. At present, its initial goals of creating de-escalation zones, stopping bloodshed between the conflicting sides and preventing a large-scale humanitarian crisis have been achieved," the commentary reads.

It points out that nowadays, the political situation in the Middle East is undergoing cardinal changes. "There is a desire to restore relations between the Arab states and Damascus. Syria's membership in the Arab League has been renewed. Our brother Republic of Turkiye intends to normalize relations with friendly Syria. In this regard, the gradual withdrawal of Syria from isolation in the region can be regarded with firm confidence as a successful result of the efforts of the so-called Astana Process on Syria," the ministry stressed.

On June 20-21, the Kazakh capital hosted another Astana-format international meeting on Syria. Delegations from guarantor countries, Russia, Turkey and Iran, as well as representatives from the Syrian government and opposition participated in the talks. Representatives from the UN, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq took part as observers. The first meeting on Syria was held in Astana in January 2017. All other meetings were held there as well while two took place in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. The UN, Jordan and the US (the US stopped participating in May 2018) were monitoring the negotiation process, joined by Iraq and Lebanon in August 2019.